EMPOWER

The application of AI methods to Big Data heralds a new era in Law Enforcement, increasing the operational capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in fighting and predicting crime. Promising tech solutions and tools are being developed within the framework of EU and nationally funded R&I projects reaching TRL 6-7 and applicable to a wide number of investigative fields. Building up from such previous and ongoing R&I projects (AIDA, DANTE, GRACE, STARLIGHT), the overall goal of EMPOWER is to foster the uptake of innovative solutions based upon AI powered tools allowing LEAs to increase their capabilities in such investigative fields.

To this end, EMPOWER will pilot test a total of 8 investigative tools in the fields of Image/Video, Voice/Text and Federated Learning, in a concerted effort carried out by a consortium of 10 partners from 5 Member States (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain), representatives of the Security and Law Enforcement R&I community: 2 LEAs (MIR-PN and PJ), 6 companies and SMEs (ENG, HERTA, ICTLC, TGO, TREBE, and VOI) and 2 RTOs (CERTH and VICOM). As a result of the project, 8 tools will be brought to TRL 8 level, following their testing by MIR-PN and PJ with operational datasets in real-life environments. Such tools will be made available to other non-partner LEAs through open repositories and licensing schemes in coordination with key players such as Europol, EACTDA, ENFSI, EuCB and CERIS. Lastly, anonymised data sets, a training needs analysis, training materials and recommendations about i) Data Interoperability and standardisation, ii) AI Trustworthiness of LEA tools, and iii) the Innovation Uptake models of new AI based solutions by LEAs, will also be widely disseminated.

ITI-CERTH has a critical role in the project by leading a WP on “Large-scale pilot design & preparation” focusing on the preparation of the project use cases, the design of the federated environment and the adaptation of the EMPOWER final tools. In this context, ITI-CERTH coordinates the process for the definition of the project use cases and the elicitation of the user requirements in close collaboration with the project end users, designs the EMPOWER federated learning architecture, whereas it also monitors the technological adaptation of the EMPOWER tools towards reaching TRL-8. In addition, ITI-CERTH is responsible for the further development of the clustering tool, the logo identification module, and the federated learning framework, originally built in STARLIGHT, DANTE and GRACE, respectively, aiming at TRL 8. Finally, ITI-CERTH has a pivotal role in the establishment of the project’s quality assurance framework monitoring the EMPOWER deliverable submission and ensuring the high-quality technical outputs.

Consortium

Transgero Limited, Ireland
Ethniko Kentro Erevnas kai Technologikis Anaptyxis, Greece
SingularLogic Anonymi Etaireia Pliroforiakon Systimaton Kai Efarmogon Pliroforikis, Greece
Fundacion Centro De Tecnologias De Interaccion Visual Y Comunicaciones Vicomtech, Spain
Herta Security SL, Spain
ICT Legal Consulting – Studio Legale Associato Balboni Bolognini & Partners, Italy
Ministerio del Interior, Spain
Ministério da Justiça, Portugal
TREBE Language Technologies S.L., Spain
VoiceInteraction – Tecnologias De Processamento Da Fala SA, Portugal